Antibodies, by virtue of their abilities of specifically binding to targets (antigens) in the antigen-antibody reactions, are used in many fields including pharmaceuticals, diagnostic agents, and reagents. Antibodies as reagents, in particular, are used in many experimental methods extending from quantitative analysis methods (including semi-quantitative analysis) such as a Western blotting method and an ELISA method to qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis methods such as immunohistostaining. Possible strategies for making effective use of antibodies include enhancing the reactivity of antibodies or reducing background noise caused by non-specific adsorption of antibodies.
A commonly used method for reducing background noise caused by non-specific adsorption of antibodies is, for example, a blocking method using a blocking reagent such as skimmed milk (Non-Patent Literature 1).
Meanwhile, due to the development of microscopic techniques in recent years, attention has been focused on observation of a deep portion of a subject in histological analysis.